George Rodriguez, born in Laredo, and raised in San Antonio, attended and graduated from BYU in 1976. In 1981, he went to work in D.C. and worked in various capacities at the Justice Department during the Reagan Administration. He also worked with the White House Office of Public Liaison. He is now retired and continues to speak and write to further conservative policies and ideas.

Note: This is an mySA.com City Brights Blog. These blogs are not written or edited by mySA or the San Antonio Express-News. The authors are solely responsible for the content.

Obamacare’s Five Taxes

While liberals are claiming that Obamacare is the law of the land, they ignore the fact that is contains 20 new or higher taxes. These taxes are gradually phased in, but in January 2013, five major ObamaCare taxes will come into force.
One is the “ObamaCare Medical Device Manufacturing Tax” which is a 2.3 percent tax on medical device makers. Every pacemaker, prosthetic limb, stent, and operating table will be taxed.

This tax will most affect small companies with less than 20 employees who pioneer the next generation of life-prolonging devices. In addition to raising the cost of health care, this $20 billion tax over the next ten years will not help the country’s jobs outlook, as the industry employs nearly 400,000 Americans. Several companies have already responded to the looming tax by cutting research and development budgets and laying off workers.

Next is the “ObamaCare High Medical Bills Tax” which is a tax provision that will harm Americans facing the highest out-of-pocket medical bills. Currently, Americans are allowed to deduct medical expenses on their 1040 form to the extent the costs exceed 7.5 percent of one’s adjusted gross income.
However, the new ObamaCare provision will raise that threshold to 10 percent, and it will harm pre-retirement seniors the hardest. Over the next ten years, affected Americans will pay up a minimum total of $15 billion in taxes.

Third, is the “ObamaCare Flexible Spending Account Cap”. There are 24 million Americans who have “Flexible Spending Accounts” and who will face a federally imposed $2,500 annual cap. These pre-tax accounts, which currently have no federal limit, are used to purchase everything from contact lenses to children’s braces. With the cost of braces being as high as $7,200, this tax provision will hurt middle income Americans.
The cap will also affect families with special-needs children, whose tuition can be covered using FSA funds. Special-needs tuition can cost up to $14,000 per child per year. This cruel tax provision will limit the options available to such families

Fourth is the “ObamaCare Surtax on Investment Income”. Under current law, the capital gains tax rate for all Americans rises from 15 to 20 percent in 2013, while the top dividend rate rises from 15 to 39.6 percent. The new ObamaCare surtax takes the top capital gains rate to 23.8 percent and top dividend rate to 43.4 percent.

Finally, there is the “ObamaCare Medicare Payroll Tax increase”. This tax takes $86 billion from employers over the next ten years.
Given these five taxes, Gov. Rick Perry is correct to keep Texas from participating in the expansion of Medicaid to cover more individuals and the creation of a state insurance exchange. Meanwhile, President Obama, political liberals, and the mainstream media conveniently tell us to “move on” after the Supreme Court ruling.